Ely’s Nordic Wolves needed to make up ground in order to reach their goal of being one of the top five boys teams in Minnesota.
And on Feb. 12, they did just that, and then some.
With Aksel Skustad and Wyatt Devine leading the way, the boys made a mad dash through the freestyle and classic races at the state Nordic skiing meet and finished third in the state and just a point away from first.
Skustad wound up 15th overall and Devine took 19th, and the boys showed off their depth as well to climb back from eighth place after the opening day sprint relay races.
Twin Cities behemoth Stillwater won the state title on the mild afternoon at Giants Ridge, while Delano/Orono just squeaked past the Wolves by a point to take second.
Not only did the Wolves take third overall, they easily defeated section rival Duluth East, who settled for an eighth-place team finish in the single- class, 16-team event.
The Wolves saved their best for last, with Skustad taking 15th overall with a combined time of 28:45.3 and winning all-state individual acclaim as a result.
Devine is also an all-stater, finishing 19th in 29:04.5, and the biggest jump came from junior Oliver Hohnestein, who stormed back from 43rd after the freestyle, had the 18th-best time in the classic and wound up 27th overall in 29:27.3.
Ely’s Brooks Brenny placed 78th in 32:01.7, and freshman Grady Anderson rounded out the boys roster by taking 85th in 32:33.
Everyone chased Hopkins junior Logan Drewlow, who won the state individual title in 27:02.3.
A day earlier, Ely’s George Sponholz and Otto Devine were seventh in their heat and 14th overall in the sprint relay, which also factored into the team scores.
While Stillwater easily won the team crown with 383 points, Orono/Delano was next with 342 and Ely was just shy of the runner-up slot at 341.
The Wolves finished five points ahead of Minneapolis Washburn, while the top-ten also included Mounds Park Academy, Hopkins, Moorhead, Duluth East, Brainerd, and Minneapolis South/ Roosevelt.
• In the state girls meet, Molly Brophy was the only Ely skier to compete individually.
The junior placed 60th with a combined time of 35:54.
After the freestyle, she was 69th overall but moved up during the classic with the 50th best time in that race to come up with a 60th place finish.
